Paving stone



Feb 10, 1-970 w. BA'UMBERGER 3,494,266

PAVING STONE Filed Dec. 27, 1967 United States Patent O 3,494,266 PAVINGSTONE Werner Baumberger, 98A Route de Thouou, Vesenaz, Geneva Canton,Switzerland Filed Dec. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 693,917 Claims priority,application Switzerland, Dec. 30, 1966, 18,847/ 66 Int. Cl. E01c 5/00US. Cl. 94-13 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A paving-stone has fourcorners disposed at the corners of an imaginary rectangle and has afirst pair of opposite sides each having an outline composed ofrectilinear parts. One of the first pair of sides presents two apicesand a central angular recess therebetween which are complementary to twoangular recesses and a central apex presented by the other side. Asecond pair of opposite sides of the paving stone each has an outlinecomposed of complementary convex and concave portions shaped as an arcof a circle, such portions being arranged so that each side iscomplementary to the other when inverted.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to apaving-stone for use as a covering for ground and the like. Thepaving-stone of the present invention can be used with advantage forcovering inter alia roads, paths in parks and gardens, canals, dykes andembankments.

SUMMARY It is one object of the present invention to provide a novelpaving-stone which is very stable under vertical load by virtue of itssubstantially rectangular-like shape and may be used to provideattractive interlocking pavements.

Accordingly the present invention provides a pavingstone for use as acovering for ground and the like and having a substantiallyrectangular-like shape, wherein the the improvement comprises a firstpair of opposite sides which have an outline in the form of a regularbroken line and which are complementary when disposed directly oppositeone another, and a second pair of opposite sides which have an outlinein the form of a rounded sinuous line and which are complementary whendisposed in inverted realtionship to one another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Further objects and advantages of theinvention will become apparent from the following description of anexemplary embodiment thereof, given with reference to the appendeddrawing, in which:

.FIGURE 1 is a plan view of an exemplary pavingstone embodying theinvention; and

FIGURES 2 and 3 show two pavements utilizing paving-stones of the kindshown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing, thepaving-stone shown in plan in FIG. 1 has four corners 1 to 4 disposed atthe corners of an imaginary rectangle 5 shown in chain-dotted lines.

On two oppositely disposed sides of the rectangle 5, the paving stonehas sides 7, 8, which are of complementary shape and which are shaped asregular interrupted lines having a number of rectilinear portions. Theside 7 has two lateral apices 7a disposed one on each side of a centralrecess 7b, and the side 8 has two lateral 3,494,266 Patented Feb. 10,1970 recesses 81: disposed on either side of a central apex 8a. Theangles of the apices 7a, 8a are obtuse (approximately 135), so that theprotuberances formed by the apices 7a, 8a on the sides of the stone areof satisfactory mechanical strength. The sides 7 and 8' are made ofstraight lines and the lines of the side 7 are substantially of the samelength as those of the side 8, so that the total formation on the leftside of the paving stone in relation to a transverse axis AA issubstantially a mirror image of the right side of the paving stone.

On the other two sides of the imaginary rectangle 5, the paving-stonehas sinuously shaped sides 9, 10 which are symmetrical in relation to atransverse axis AA of the imaginary rectangle 5. The sides 9, 10 have oneither side of the longitudinal axis BB of the rectangle roundedprotuberant or convex parts 9a, 10a and rounded recessed or concaveparts 912, 1012, the shapes of the protuberant parts matching andcomplementary to the shapes of the recessed parts.

The two convex parts 9a, 10a are both disposed on the same side of theaxis BB and the two concave parts 91;, 10b are both disposed on theother side of the axis B-B. These parts are in the form of an arc of acircle the versin f of which is approximately 20% of the length of thechord C (FIG. 1).

A paving stone embodying the invention has the following features andadvantages:

(1) It is in shape substantially rectangular-like (in a variant it couldbe substantially square-like) and therefore remains very stable undervertical load, since the sand bed on which the stone is placed is moreevenly compressed than by S-shaped or herringbone paving stones havingthin or prowlike parts which tend to sink into the bed.

(2) Since the sides 7, 8 have a broken-line shape but the sides 9, 10have sinuously extending shapes, the lines of the joints betweenpaving-stones are, referring to the checkerwork paving shown in FIG. 3,of one kind in one direction and of another kind in the directionperpendicular to the first direction.

(3) The paving-stones shown can be assembled in staggered form, as shownin FIG. 2, or in the aligned position shown in FIG. 3. In the positionshown in FIG. 3, if stones of different colors are used, his readilypossible to provide regular checkerwork effects or perpendicular linesserving to mark a road.

(4) The staggered pavement shown in FIG. 2 is devoid of anysubstantially inclined joint line. The pavement has a calmer appearance,and unlike what occurs in known pavements formed by paving-stones havingconvergent surfaces, there is no false axis inclined to the road axis.

The paving-stone can be fashioned in cement or any other form ofartificial stone and can be fashioned or cut in other materials, such asplastics, timber, terra cotta.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it is tobe understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in alimiting sense.

I claim:

1. A paving-stone for use as a covering for ground and the like andhaving a substantially rectangular-like shape to define four corners,wherein the improvement comprises a first pair of opposite sides havingan outline in the form of a regular zigzag line formed of a plurality ofstraight lines and being complementary when disposed directly oppositeone another,

a second pair of opposite sides having an outline in the form of arounded sinuous line and being complementary relative to each other whendisposed in inverted relationship to one another,

said stone defining an imaginary longitudinal axis across said secondpair of opposite sides and an imaginary cross axis across said firstpair of opposite sides,

the portion of said stone on one side of said imaginary cross axis beinga mirror image of the portion of said stone on the other side of saidimaginary cross axis,

one of said first pair of sides being formed with two apices, and arecess between said two apices,

the opposite of said sides of said first pair of sides being formed withtwo recesses complementary to said 10 apices, and one apex complementaryto said recess,

said apices of said one side having an apex angle of approximately 135",

each of said second pair of opposite sides has two rounded parts,

one of said rounded parts being convex,

the other of said rounded parts being concave,

said rounded parts of said second pair of opposite sides having anoutline in the form of an arc of a circle,

the versin of said are being substantially 20% of the length of thecorresponding chord of said circle, and

the apices of said four corners defined at the junctions between saidfirst and second pairs of opposite sides being disposed at the fourcorners of an imaginary rectangle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,605,681 8/1952 Trief 94132,919,634 1/1960 Plotner 9413 FOREIGN PATENTS 706,821 4/ 1954 GreatBritain.

1,115,281 10/1961 Germany.

6513546 4/ 1966 Netherlands.

352,582 9/1937 Italy. 343,106 6/ 1960 Switzerland.

JA'COB L. NACKENOFF, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

